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| | In 1995 the Edmonton Police Service Economic Crime Section, recognized a tremendous increase in fraud related crime and the limited resources of the Police to combat such activity. They put together a steering committee of police, media, the general public, companies and associations to proactively deal with this problem.
The Heads Up Fraud Prevention Association was formed for the specific purpose of providing fraud prevention information to the public. By making the public more aware of the variety of fraudulent scams through an education process, they will be armed with sufficient information to allow them to make educated decisions prior to parting with their money. By empowering the community through the education process, we can reduce victimization and prevent these crimes from occurring.
In addition to providing the general public with this fraud prevention information, we have identified that our senior’s community in particular demands extra attention in this regard.
As our seniors’ population is growing and is commonly victimized for a variety of fraud related crime, we have developed the Wise Owl program. Seniors, trained in fraud prevention, volunteer their time to help educate other seniors within their respective communities. These Wise Owls specialize in frauds common to senior citizens, including the phony bank inspector frauds, telemarketing, home renovation scams and a variety of investment related fraud crimes. The Heads Up Fraud Prevention Association is a citizen led charitable organization with a board representing the police, media, business, government and the general public. The Association was incorporated on August 5th, 1997 in Edmonton. The Heads Up Fraud Prevention Association’s commitment to the community is admirable and I was pleased to be able to recognize it with an Alberta Solicitor General Crime Prevention Award.
Heather Forsyth - Solicitor General
Government of the Province of Alberta
As you are aware, it is a difficult task to educate the public about fraud. I often hear comments that there are not enough resources to assist people in recognizing and avoiding fraud, especially for those who are not adept at navigating the Internet. In many cases, a printed resource is exactly what we need to help raise awareness.
Your brochures allow us to provide interested parties with printed take-away material that helps to reinforce our message of recognizing and avoiding fraudulent investments.
Mark Pallas - Education Coordinator
Alberta Securities Commission
